{"id":390,"date":"2020-11-02T16:01:08","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T08:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/?p=390"},"modified":"2020-11-02T22:15:24","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T14:15:24","slug":"joy-in-conquering-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/joy-in-conquering-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy in Conquering Nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Are you taking joy in conquering nothing?<\/u><\/p>

Do horses run on the rocky crags?
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Does one plow the sea with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and the fruit of righteousness\u00a0into bitterness\u2014
\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and say, \u201cDid we not take Karnaim by our own strength?\u201d Amos 6:12-13 NIV<\/p>

NB: Lo Debar means nothing, Karnaim means horn or strength.<\/p>

Man this is a heavy scripture. A challenging scripture and it should cause us to evaluate ourselves and if need be become life changing.<\/p>

In chapter 6 of Amos the Lord declares he is going to smash the Israelite houses to smithereens, because they are complacent.\u00a0 Since securing Zion and having a foremost position they have chosen to eat lamb, play music, drink wine and lie on couches instead of pursuing justice and doing what is right.<\/p>

The Lord is saying that the right response to the life they had been given should have been to pursue justice and do what is right, that they are equipped and placed so they could do these things.\u00a0 They chose not to so were no better than their neighbours.<\/p>

It brings to mind Jesus\u2019 words in regard to the sheep and goats found in Matthew 25.\u00a0 When those on the left the ones called \u2018goats\u2019 say \u2018hey, why are we being punished, if we had seen YOU naked, hungry, thirsty, homeless, sick or in prison we would have helped\u2019 and the Shepherd (the Lord) replies, \u2018whenever you didn\u2019t do it for the least, lowest, most insignificant, you didn\u2019t do it for me.\u2019<\/p>

In the Amos writing he likens their behaviour to be so foreign to their position that it is like horses trying to race on rocks and oxen trying to plough the sea.\u00a0 That the natural state of obtaining Zion, the promised land and being secure is to pursue justice and do what is right.\u00a0 That it takes effort to, or it goes against natural inclination to feast and lounge.<\/p>

He even goes on to be a bit sarcastic and say why are you rejoicing in conquering nothing, and why are you saying you are strong in your own strength.\u00a0 He makes them out to look like idiots.<\/p>

Here we are in the 21st<\/sup> Century, having accepted Jesus as the Son of God who died for our sins and in so doing obtaining the right to the Kingdom of Heaven, citizens, and what are we doing with it?\u00a0 Our natural spiritual state set alive by the Holy Spirit who indwells is to pursue justice and do what is right.<\/p>

We get so caught up in pursuing self interest and maintaining status or a standard of living.\u00a0 The scripture in Amos says we are actively choosing against our natural state when we say things like \u2018I\u2019ve barely got enough to feed my family, never lone another\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m not helping them, they won\u2019t appreciate it, and they got themselves into the mess\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m too busy right now, once I get this or this or this done then I will\u2019 or \u2018I need to go into debt for this new car because I need it for work, so I can make the money to help the poor\u2019 or \u2018I need to look after my family first (the bible says so) before I help others\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>

Can you add to this list?<\/p>

Understand me here, I\u2019m plonking myself right in the middle of this as well.\u00a0 And as I dwell on the truth, that I am actively going against my new natural state, I cant help but wonder if the reason I am, at times, \u00a0so tired, frustrated, bored, feeling sorry for myself, emotional, disconnected is because I\u2019m spending so much time choosing against this natural state.<\/p>

If I\u2019m reading this scripture right \u2013 I don\u2019t even have to spend time wondering what pursuing justice and doing what is right looks like.\u00a0 If I just stop choosing against it, I will naturally act within the position I have gained through Jesus.<\/p>

So, ARE YOU GAME, do you want to join me in resting (not lounging \ud83d\ude09) in the Lord and see what happens.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see how the world changes as we all stop choosing against our new nature. \u00a0Netflix should go broke, the charities shouldn\u2019t have to advertise for volunteers, Facebook should have to change their algorithms, dare I say that the aged care facilities will have plenty of beds, revival will change the prison landscape, our country will be at peace within and without.<\/p>

Actually I am excited\u2026.. I hope you are too.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you taking joy in conquering nothing? Do horses run on the rocky crags?     Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison     and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness\u2014  you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar     and say, \u201cDid we not take Karnaim by our own strength?\u201d Amos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kingdom","category-warrior","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396,"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions\/396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolyngailedwards.com\/livingfearless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}